Pre-Occupation

Pre-Occupation marked the first solo show of my lithography ink interior paintings. The focus in this exhibiton shifted from office spaces to domestic settings. I also introduced the new Plinth Paintings that are titled Desk-Sets and feature various opposing desks (Geographically: America/Germany and Sexually: Male/Female). The plinth model would continue in later work to include power structure oppositions (receptionist/executive) and issues of vanity (opposing women’s vanity mirrors). This exhibit also included the final Ballpoint ink painting I would do.

It depicts anonymous but notable structural moments of Frank Loydd Wright’s Johnson Wax Factory, focusing on the diffusing quality of his pyrex glass walls. The small, single panel pieces acted primarily as a color studies, as the lithography ink allowed for exploration into shades beyond the Bic blue and black I utilized for several years before this show. The colors mixed for these and all the paintings since include a 'reflex blue' lithography ink that mimics the iridescence of the Bic blue ballpoint ink to which I was first drawn. The show’s title describes a time period in the history of World War II, but also implies a moment in an empty room.

Read Christian Viveros-Faune’s piece on Pre-Occupation